Should Marijuana Be Legalized?

The statement “marijuana is a lot safer than alcohol” cannot go unchallenged and should be debated. One important subject is the risk that marijuana use (especially in young adults) can lead to some kinds of mental illness. “Studies support findings that risk of schizophrenia doubles in young abusers” (U.S. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, 2009). According to Joseph Califano Jr., CASA founder and chairman of Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) “If we were to make marijuana legal and taxed it, for approximately every dollar of tax revenue, there could be as much as seven dollars incurred in medical costs”.

Alcohol vs. Marijuana Alcohol and marijuana are two drugs commonly used and abused in the United States. Alcohol is the number one abused drug, while marijuana is number one among illegal drugs. While alcohol remains legal, and marijuana illegal, this does not necessarily mean that alcohol is better for you. There have been many arguments where people suggest that marijuana should be legal because alcohol is more deadly. On the other hand, there are alcoholics who would tell a pothead that smoking weed is bad for you. Both substances are very bad for your health and should not be heavily used by anyone.

Analysis of Legalized Marijuana Josh Raabe Mountain Lake Christian School Abstract This paper will look at the benefits and drawbacks to legalizing marijuana by looking in at Colorado.The state made forty million dollars by taxed marijuana in 2014 alone, also Colorado saved countless millions because of the extremely lower amounts of marijuana arrest and court cases. It is not clear how having new recreational marijuana stores opening will affect the cannabis market, or businesses expanding around them. Gov. John Hickenlooper says that the economy is thriving with record setting numbers of tourists (73.1 million). 49 percent of those tourist said that legal marijuana influenced their decisions to vacation in Colorado. The ER’s in Colorado have also seen a rise in numbers of marijuana related cases and those cases in non-residents have almost doubled. An unexpected situation that arose from legal cannabis was the amount of electricity that is being use to grow the drug. Some cannabusinesses have to go green with solar or wind power. There are many varying views on the effects of legal marijuana have developed in Colorado since marijuana became legal in 2014.

Because marijuana is illegal in the United States and decades of government sponsored anti-marijuana programs, it’s often associated with crime though there is no association between weed use and crime. Although there are studies that link marijuana and crime, its almost all focused on illegal distribution. People who are high don’t commit violence. Its common knowledge that a person should never take alcohol or weed and drive, but although its true that marijuana affects the ability to drive, it is not as dangerous as drunk or buzz driving. A recent study show that marijuana use increases the odds of a fatal crash by 83 percent while driving with a blood alcohol level of at least .05 increased the chance of being in a crash by 575 percent. It is clear that the roads are threatened more by alcohol than weed but society is also affected by both in very different ways. Colorado is a state where weed is legal to those twenty one and older and offers a look on marijuana’s effects on society such as states with medical marijuana painkiller overdoses deaths have dropped 25 percent due to people substituting their prescriptions for weed (Christensen, Wilson "Is Marijuana as Safe as -- or Safer than -- Alcohol?”). Alcohol does not lower the number of painkiller but because

From 2001 to 2005 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports on average more than 79,000 deaths per year was caused by excessive alcohol use. (CDC, “Vital Signs”) Excessive drinking includes binge drinking, heavy drinking and any drinking by pregnant women or minors. On the other hand, the CDC does not have a category for deaths caused by the use of marijuana. Statistically, death directly from marijuana overdose is extremely rare. However, according to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting data, there were a total of 1.5 million drug arrests nationwide in 2011 and out of those arrests around 750,000 were for marijuana alone. (FBI, “Person’s Arrested”) While both alcohol and marijuana should not be taken with any other drug and getting behind the wheel while drunk or high poses significant risk to everyone. Alcohol is still vastly greater in number when it comes to death than marijuana but then again one is legal while the other one is not.

Drinking alcohol is also much more harmful for you than marijuana is, and it too is legal. Alcohol damages your internal organs like your liver, kidneys, and circulatory system. Alcohol also has a much higher dependency than does marijuana. Tens of thousands of people are dependent on alcohol everyday sometimes ruining one’s personal and family life. Alcohol also causes you to lose your inhibitions which could get

Marijuana is used in a similar Marijuana is much safer then alcohol too. Marijuana is one of the few drugs without the risk of overdose. In 2006, alcohol was the cause of 22,073 deaths in the united states. Alcohol, by itself or combined with another illicit drug, was involved in approximately 577,521 emergency room visits. Marijuana use, on the other hand, has no effect, increasing or decreasing, on mortality. Marijuana was only involved in approximately 290,563 emergency room visits. This means that alcohol is involved in two times the amount of emergency room visits as marijuana and kills more people each year because marijuana doesn’t have a direct affect on mortality.

Alcohol Vs. Marijuana Alcohol and marijuana are two drugs commonly used and abused in the United States. Alcohol is the number one abused drug, while marijuana is number one among illegal drugs. While alcohol remains legal, and marijuana illegal, this does not necessarily mean that the alcohol is better for you. There have been many arguments where people suggest that marijuana should be legal because alcohol is more deadly. On the other hand, there are alcoholics who would tell a pothead that smoking weed is bad for you. Both substances are very bad for your health and should not be heavily used by anyone.

The Second Prohibition With recent years, excessive controversy has been brought up around marijuana. The birth of this comes from more states pushing for legalization. Marijuana, as a part of American history, is now being compared to another huge substance that has associated itself with American history: alcohol. These comparisons are coming from anti-legalization supporters and should not be happening at all. Alcohol is not as regulated and educated than marijuana, even though pot has additional benefits, identical side effects, and a similar history to alcohol.

Drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana have been around for years. The fact that it has been around so long has made it become a trend for many adults, teens, and even kids. Many of those who use, either use one or both without knowing the health effects either of the two drugs can have on you. Some say marijuana is more harmful than alcohol, and others vice versa. Although both drinking and smoking have short and long term health effects, experts show that marijuana is much safer to use health wise rather than drinking.

Marijuana is a safer alternative to alcohol. Many people have raised eyebrows when legalization of marijuana received too much scrutiny from the public. Whereas alcohol, which poses more harm than marijuana, can be seen available almost everywhere. Alcohol, regardless of the doses, has insignificant benefit to the body just to remind an obvious example. Much worse when abused, alcoholism can disrupt endocannabinoid system. Folks with serious case of alcoholism are advised to use marijuana to reverse the adverse effects of alcohol in their body.

Marijuana has become a hot topic in today’s society. Most have very strong opinions as to whether or not it should be legalized for recreational use. The prohibition has not stopped people from using it. Many believe that there are too many negative risks associated with marijuana use and that it is too dangerous for public consumption.

Marijuana has earned itself a terrible name over the years. This plant has a long history with humans, from early medical uses to spiritual and even recreational use. In recent years, many states have seen the legalization of marijuana for medical uses. Most large scale experiments have been hindered because

Martin Torrijos Mr. Fontenot English 104-401 October 28, 2013 Marijuana Legalization The legalization of marijuana has been a heated topic of debate for many years. In 1937, the United Sates of America passed the Marijuana Tax Act, which made transfer or possession of cannabis (marijuana plant) illegal throughout the US under federal law. Studies conducted throughout the years have proven that cannabis can be utilized as a medical supplement. In fact 20, states and the District of Columbia have passed laws to legalize marijuana under certain medical conditions. According to the White House, it is the most commonly used recreational drug in the United States. It has been proven to be less harmful than alcohol, which is currently

Cannabis is becoming increasingly widespread and increasingly common in modern-day society for both recreational use and for medication. The article by Craig Reinarman, ‘Criminalisation, legalisation and the mixed blessing of medicalisation in the USA’ generates many controversial issues of cannabis. The two-sided debate between embracing medical use of the drug